Poland

Poland

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Capital:

Warsaw

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Government type:

Non-Aligned, Oligarchic

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Faction:

Neutral

 Poland is a regional power in Central Europe. It is between two major powers, the  German Reich and the  Soviet Union. It is arguably the 6th strongest country in Europe during World War II. Their leader at the time was Ignacy Mościcki, which controlled a Authoritarian Regime but remained Non-Aligned when you join the game.

Historical background

The Second Polish Republic (Pol: Druga Rzeczpospolita) was perhaps the sixth most powerful country in Europe in 1936, but was caught between two rising superpowers —  Germany under the fanatical Nazis, and the  Soviet Union, the epicenter of Communism. Due largely to limited economic resources, Poland was unable to keep pace with the intense armament efforts of its neighbors. After being the target of Hitler's political machinations, and becoming Poland's friend while weakening the country's independence and ties with  France, the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact between the Soviet Union and Germany paved the way for territorial demands and, soon, war.

World War II is most often considered to have begun on 1 September 1939 with the invasion of Poland by the German Reich. Both the  United Kingdom, the leader of the Allies, and  France guaranteed Poland's independence, and did declare war on Germany. However, no real pressure was brought against the Third Reich. Almost 100 French divisions invaded Germany, but were ordered to halt 1 km from the thin and undermanned Siegfried Line and withdraw to their original positions in the Maginot Line. For 8 months after, the “Phoney War” of minor skirmishes and almost unreal quiet held sway as the allies did nothing. After the war, a German officer remarked that had the allies pressed their offensive then, Germany could only have held out for a few weeks.

The last divisions of the Polish Army capitulated after a month, on the 6th of October; but the Polish Government never officially surrendered. Indeed, their resistance was one of the best organized in Europe, complete with schools and a postal service. The Polish struggle continued on the Western Front with the Polish Fleet and Polish army brigades who evacuated through  Romania to France and thence to England.

Polish soldiers played key roles in the war including the Battle of Britain, the Battle of Narvik, and the Battle of Monte Cassino. However, the rise of the “Iron Curtain” and the West-East division of Europe negotiated between the allies and Comintern left Poland a Soviet satellite state, its true independence not to return until the fall of the USSR decades later.

Events

Main article: Polish events

National focus

Polish national focus tree.

Main article: Polish national focus tree

 Poland gets a unique national focus tree as part of a free DLC. With the No Step Back DLC, this tree is expanded. If the DLC is not enabled, Poland will use the generic national focus tree instead.

The Polish national focus tree can be divided into 10 branches and 9 sub-branches:

The Four Year Plan Branch

The industrial branch gives Poland factories, research slots, railways and infrastructure. It also removes and delays the Peasant's Strike penalties.

Develop Polish Ship Building/ Clamp Down on Danzig Branch

This allows either the subjugation of Danzig or transfer of industry to Gdynia. It also boosts Poland's naval capacity by building dockyards and giving it naval tech bonuses.

Prepare For The Next War Branch

This gives bonuses to army and airforce technologies. It also allows the modification of foreign materiel designers to not require consumer goods factories.

• Plan East/ Plan West Sub-branch

This allows Poland to prepare for a future invasion from the  Soviet Union and/or the  German Reich depending of the side of the sub-branch. Until the player has completed one side of the sub-branch, the other side cannot be started.

Complete the April Constitution Branch

The historical branch forces Poland balance between the Sanation Left, Sanation Right factions in the government with the risk of a civil war.

• The Sanation Left Sub-branch

The upper part of the sub-branch gives concessions to the Sanation Left faction whilst making the Sanation Right side unhappy. The middle focus aligns Poland to the Sanation Left, thus removing the possibility of chosing other Sanation Right or the Castle focuses. The lower focuses allows the creation of a Baltic Alliance and allows for a Democratic Poland.

• The Sanation Right Sub-branch

The upper part of the sub-branch gives concessions to the Sanation Right faction whilst making the Sanation Left side unhappy. The middle focus aligns Poland to the Sanation Right, thus removing the possibility of chosing other Sanation Left or the Castle focuses. The lower focuses allows the creation of a Baltic Alliance and allows for a Fascist Poland.

• The Castle Sub-branch

The upper part of the sub-branch appeases both the Sanation Left and Sanation Right and keeping non-aligned support. The middle focus keeps the Castle as head of the government, thus removing the possibility of chosing other Sanation Left or the Sanation Right focuses. The lower part of the sub-branch is allowed to be selected if the other Sanation factions are chosen. It allows Poland to align with the Allies and asks or demands alignment from  Lithuania or  Romania

Restore the Sejm Branch

This branch allows Poland to choose either Democratic, Fascist or Communist ideologies. It is only available if the DLC No Step Back is disabled.

Organize the Peasant's Strike Branch

This allows Poland to side with the Peasant Revolt and either go Democratic or Communist after a civil war. The Communist path gives Poland the choice to align with the  Soviet Union or go independent. If Poland chooses to go Democratic, it has the choice to join the Allies or form a new faction with  France. It also allows Poland to gain colonial holdings in  Liberia or Madagascar.

Assemble the Regency Council Branch

This branch allows Poland to form a Monarchy and elect a King.

• The Habsburg Sub-branch

This elects Karl Albrecht I as King of Poland and allowing him to become a field marshal. It creates a Personal Union with  Czechoslovakia with the possibility of annexation and coring. It installs Otto von Habsburg as King of  Hungary giving Poland a choice to make an alliance. It also gives cores and a war goal to several  German states.

• The Hohenzollern/ The Commonwealth Claimant Sub-branch

This elects either Michał II of Romania or Friedrich Christian as King of Poland. The Hohenzollern side allows Poland to create a Personal Union with  Romania and  Hungary with the possibility of creating the  Kingdom of Poland-Romania. The Commonwealth side mirrors several focuses from the Lithuanian national focus tree and allows Poland to form the  Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth

• The Romanov Sub-branch

This secret sub-branch is only available if the player elects "Anastasia Romanov" as King of Poland through events. It gives war goals against the  Soviet Union and  Yugoslavia. It also allows the creation of the Slavic Union formable nation.

• The Cossack-King Sub-branch

This elects Pavel Bermondt-Avalov as King of Poland, allows him to become a field marshal and switches the ruling party to Fascism. It gives war goals for the Baltic and Slovakian States and gives the player the choice between getting claims on and going to war with  Germany or becoming its Reichsprotectorate for claims on the  Soviet Union. Completing "Complete the Bermontian Mission" focus allows the creation of the  Don Host and the  Kuban Host as independent nations or puppets of Poland.

A Nationalist Constitution Branch

The Fascist branch allows Poland to become a Reichsprotectorate of  Germany and give them land for a chance to gain territory in a future war with the  Soviet Union and it may allow Poland to declare a war for independence. Part of this side is shared with the Cossack-King Sub-branch. The player may also chose for Poland to be independent of  Germany and make its own faction with other Falangist nations.

The Between The Seas Concept Branch

The Międzymorze branch of the tree allows Poland to ally  Finland,  Denmark,  Sweden,  Norway,  Estonia,  Latvia,  Lithuania,  Czechoslovakia,  Austria,  Hungary,  Yugoslavia,  Greece or  Turkey, and  Italy.

Prepare for the Inevitable Branch

These focuses allow Poland to continue the war effort even if it has capitulated with off map factories and manpower increases. It is available if the Man the Guns DLC is enabled.

• Expand Polish Intelligence Sub-branch

These focuses allow the expansion of the Polish intelligence agency. It is available if the La Résistance DLC is enabled. If the Man the Guns DLC is disabled, this sub-branch is still available as a separate branch.

Technology

Poland starts with three research slots.

Army Technology	Naval Technology	Air Technology	Electronics & Industry
Infantry Eq. I Mountain Infantry I Engineer Company I Recon Company I Great War Tank Towed Artillery I Towed Anti-Air I	Early Destroyer Hull Basic Depth Charges 1936 Submarine Hull Basic Torpedo Naval Gunnery Contact Mine Minelaying Submarine	Interwar Fighter Interwar Bomber Close Air Support I	None
Doctrines
Grand Battleplan	None	None

Cosmetic names

Poland has many unique cosmetic names for its equipment, listed here.

Infantry & motorized techs

Type	1918	1936	1938	1939	1940	1941	1942	1943	1944
Support Weapons	Ckm wz. 25 & Moździerz wz. 18		Rkm Browning wz.1928 & Granatnik wz. 36		Ckm wz.32 & Moździerz wz. 31		Nkm wz. 38 FK & Moździerz wz. 40 ST
Infantry Equipment	Kb Mauser wz.98a	Kbsp wz.38M		wz. 38 Mors			wz. 43 Blyskawica
Infantry Anti-Tank							Kb Ppanc wz. 35 Ur	ET-38 anti-tank grenade
Motorized		Ursus A
Mechanized					C4P		C2P		C7P

Armor techs

Tech year	Amphibious	Light (TD/SPG/AA)	Medium (TD/SPG/AA)	Modern (TD/SPG/AA)	Heavy (TD/SPG/AA)	Super-Heavy (TD/SPG/AA)
1918		Renault FT
1934		TKS			27TP
1936		7TP
1939			10TP
1941		9TP	14TP		32TP
1943			Husarz		Bestia	Behemot
1945				Ułan

Artillery techs

Tech year	Anti-Air	Artillery	Rocket Artillery	Anti-Tank
1934		75mm wz. 31
1936	40mm wz. 36			37mm wz. 36
1939		Haubica 100mm wz. 38 St.
1940	Armata plot. 75mm wz. 36			Armata ppanc. 47mm wz. 39
1942		Armata 155mm wz. 40
1943	NA			Armata ppanc. 76mm wz. 43

Aircraft techs

Tech Year	Close Air Support (Carrier)	Fighter (Carrier)	Naval Bomber (Carrier)	Heavy Fighter	Tactical Bomber	Strategic Bomber	Scout Plane
1933		PZL.11 (PZL. 11 Floty)			Żubr
1936	Karaś (Karaś Floty)	Jastrząb (Jastrząb Floty)	Foka (Foka Floty)	Wilk	Łoś	Pszczoła
1940	Sum (Sum Floty)	Kania (Kania Floty)	Lew Morski (Lew Morski Floty)	Ryś	Miś	Osa
1944	Okoń (Okoń Floty)	Pustułka (Pustułka Floty)	Mors (Mors Floty)	Lis	Dzik	Szerszeń
Jet Engine Technology
1945		Orzeł			Borsuk
1950		Sęp			Rosomak	Komar

Diplomacy

Poland starts as non-aligned, but with their unique focus tree can easily join any of the main ideologies or even try and remain neutral through the war by starting their own faction.

In the 1936 opening, Poland has to make a decision on what faction to join. In 1936, the Polish Army is stronger than the Wehrmacht so an preemptive attack can be considered especially if  France declares war after the reoccupation of the Rhine event. If Poland chooses to join the Allies it needs to be aware of the fact that the brunt of the German war effort will be placed on it. If Poland chooses to join the Axis it has the potential to destroy the USSR. If Poland decides to join the Comintern it will be able to knock out  Germany very early on and prevent the  Soviet Union from claiming its eastern states. This course of action can be problematic if Poland joins the Axis and Germany takes the "Molotov Ribbentrop Pact" focus.

Alliances

In 1936, Poland does not belong in any alliances but it can form an alliance with France via decision late 1938. By national focus, Poland can create its own faction called "Międzymorze" (mid-sea/between-seas, Latin "Intermarium", a reference to the Baltic and Black seas—at its height of power in the 16th to 17th centuries, Poland's borders stretched from the Baltic to the Black sea. Arguably, the idea of returning to that former glory is part of the national consciousness, especially in the newly re-instituted second republic of the early 20th century).

Politics

National spirits

These national spirits are only available if the Poland: United and Ready DLC is enabled

The April Constitution

• Political Power Gain: -15%
• Daily Support for Unaligned: +0.05
• Political Advisor Cost: +15%
• Economy Laws Cost: +15%
• Conscription Laws Cost: +15%

This piece of legislation was passed by the Sejm in 1935 to ensure the continued peace and stability of the Polish state. The constitution grants almost total powers to the President, granting him supremacy over the Sejm and Senate.

Looming Peasant's Strike

Angered by a total lack of action to counter the cross impoverished conditions of Eastern Poland, a Peasants' Strike is on the horizon for Poland. If not addressed before the year is out, Poland risks unknown levels of civil unrest across the nation.

Low Sanation Left Opposition

• Stability: -5.00%
• Daily Support for Unaligned: +0.02

Supporters of reform, the Sanation Left believe that Walery Sławek is the true successor to the previous dictator, Józef Piłsudski. Currently, the Sanation Left is a very marginal threat to the Dictatorship and is in no position to threaten the stability of the regime.

Low Sanation Right Opposition

• War support: -10.00%
• Daily Support for Unaligned: +0.05

The right-wing of the government is composed of powerful military staff united behind Edward Rydz-Śmigły. Currently, the Sanation Right are satisfied with the government and are of very little threat to the regime.

Laws

1936
If the free "Poland: United and Ready" DLC is enabled:

Conscription Law	Economy Law	Trade Law
Volunteer Only 1.5% Recruitable population	Civilian Economy 35% Consumer Goods factories –30% Factory construction speed +30% Factory (type) conversion cost –40% Fuel gain per oil –25% Fuel capacity	Embargoed Economy 25% Resources to market +40% Civilian intelligence to others +40% Navy intelligence to others 5% Consumer Goods factories +15% Agency upgrade time

Otherwise:

Conscription Law	Economy Law	Trade Law
Volunteer Only 1.5% Recruitable population	Civilian Economy 35% Consumer Goods factories –30% Factory construction speed +30% Factory (type) conversion cost –40% Fuel gain per oil –25% Fuel capacity	Export Focus 50% Resources to market +5% Research speed +10% Factory/Dockyard output +10% Construction speed +20% Civilian intelligence to others +10% Navy intelligence to others

1939
If the free "Poland: United and Ready" DLC is enabled:

Conscription Law	Economy Law	Trade Law
Limited Conscription 2.5% Recruitable population	Partial Mobilization 25% Consumer Goods factories +10% Military factory construction speed −10% Factory (type) conversion cost –10% Fuel gain per oil	Embargoed Economy 25% Resources to market +40% Civilian intelligence to others +40% Navy intelligence to others 5% Consumer Goods factories +15% Agency upgrade time

Otherwise:

Conscription Law	Economy Law	Trade Law
Limited Conscription 2.5% Recruitable population	Partial Mobilization 25% Consumer Goods factories +10% Military factory construction speed −10% Factory (type) conversion cost –10% Fuel gain per oil	Limited Exports 25% Resources to market +1% Research speed +5% Factory/Dockyard output +5% Construction speed +10% Civilian intelligence to others +5% Navy intelligence to others

Political parties

Political Party	Ideology	Popularity	Party Leader	Country Name	Is Ruling?
Polskie Stronnictwo Ludowe	Democratic	18%	Wincenty Witos	Polish Republic	No, but can come to power by coup.
Komunistyczna Partja Polski	Communist	2%	Władysław Gomułka	Polish People's Republic	No, but can come to power by coup.
Oboz Narodowo Radykalny-Falanga	Fascist	15%	Bolesław Piasecki	Falangist Poland (If Independent or a puppet)/The Generalgovernement (If is specifically a German Puppet)	No, but can come to power by coup.
Bermontian Party	Fascist	---	Pavel Bermondt-Avalov	Bermontian Kingdom of Poland	No, but can come to power via picking him in event after the focus "Fulfil the 5th of November Act".
Sanacja	Non-Aligned	65%	Ignacy Mościcki	Poland	Yes
Powszechna Organizacja Społeczeństwa	Non-Aligned	---	Walery Sławek	Poland	No, but can come to power via focus "A New King in the Castle".
Obóz Zjednoczenia Narodowego	Non-Aligned	---	Edward Rydz-Śmigły	Sanationist Poland	No, but can come to power via focus "Triumph of OZN".
House Romanov	Non-Aligned	---	Anna Andersson ("Anastasia Romanov")	Congressional Kingdom of Poland	No, but can come to power via picking her in event after the focus "Fulfil the 5th of November Act".
House of Habsburg	Non-Aligned	---	Karl Albrecht I	Kingdom of Poland	No, but can come to power via picking him in event after the focus "Fulfil the 5th of November Act".
House of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen	Non-Aligned	---	Michał II	Kingdom of Poland	No, but can come to power via picking him in event after the focus "Fulfil the 5th of November Act".
House of Wettin	Non-Aligned	---	Friedrich Christian	Kingdom of Poland	No, but can come to power via picking him in event after the focus "Fulfil the 5th of November Act".

Staff and designers

Tank designers

Icon	Designer	Type	Effect	Cost ()
	PZinż	Tank Designer	Armor Research Speed: +15% Armor: Max Speed: +5% Reliability: +10%	150

Ship designers

Icon	Designer	Type	Effect	Cost ()
	Stocznia Gdynia	Ship Designer	Naval Research Speed: +15.0%	150

Aircraft Designers

Icon	Designer	Type	Effect	Cost ()
	PWS	Light Aircraft Designer	Air Research Speed: +15% Fighter: Agility: +10% Max Speed: +10% Carrier Fighter: Agility: +10% Max Speed: +10%	150
	PZL	Medium Aircraft Designer	Air Research Speed: +15% Heavy Fighter: Reliability: +20% Tactical Bomber: Reliability: +20%	150

Materiel designers

Icon	Designer	Type	Effect	Cost ()
	FB	Infantry Equipment Designer	Small Arms Research Speed: +15.0%	150
	SMPA	Artillery Designer	Artillery Research Speed: +15%	150
	LRL	Motorized Equipment Designer	Motorization Research Speed: +15%	150

Industrial concerns

Icon	Designer	Type	Effect	Cost ()
	PKP	Industrial Concern	Industrial Research Speed: +15.0%	150
	AVA	Electronics Concern	Electronics Research Speed: +15.0%	150

Economy

1936

Factories 1936

Military Factories	Naval Dockyards	Civilian Factories
9	1	17

As well as 37 free slots. 9 Civilian Factories are available for construction duty.

Total resources 1936

Oil	Rubber	Steel	Aluminum	Tungsten	Chromium
5(2)	0(0)	51(19)	11(2)	0(0)	0(0)

*These numbers represent the available resources for production at start of the game. In the bracket are the complete numbers including those lost for trading.

Military

Army

Army

	Type	No.
	Infantry	28
	Cavalry	10
	Mountaineer	2
	Total divisions	40

The Polish Army (Wojsko Polskie) is based on large infantry divisions as well as small cavalry brigades.

• Infantry divisions (Dywizja Piechoty) are made of 9 infantry regiments with a cavalry recon company.
• Mountaineer divisions (Dywizja Piechoty Górskiej) comprise 9 mountain regiments with a cavalry recon company.
• Cavalry brigades (Brygada Kawalerii) are made of 3 cavalry regiments with a cavalry recon company.

8 of the infantry divisions and all of the cavalry brigardes are at "Trained" with the rest of the army at Regular; all units suffer from equipment shortages.

Total: 30 Divisions + 10 Brigades

Manpower Used: 320k

For Army High Command, use Kazimierz Sosnkowski

Navy

Screens and Submarines 1936 2 Destroyers 3 Submarines

The Polish Navy (Marynarka Wojenna) is almost nonexistent. It is best to ignore any Naval research unless going for a World Conquest or there is nothing left to do.

Total: 5 vessels | Manpower Used: 1.1k

For High Command, pick Józef Unrug instead of Xawery Czernicki to get bonuses.

Naval units list

Name	Type	Count	Production	Techyear	Design note
Wicher Class	Minelayer (DD)	2		1922	DD battery I, AA I, TT I, DC I and mines
Wilk Class	Minelayer (SS)	3		1936	TT I and mines

Air Force

Air force

	Type	No.
	Close air support	22
	Fighter	162

Total: 184 planes | Manpower Used: 3.68k

The Polish Air Force (Siły Powietrzne) is weak and it would take a lot of time to upgrade, but it is definitely worth upgrading to try and wrest air control from the Germans in 1939..

Strategies and guides

The below is one of many player suggested strategies for Poland. Bear in mind, due to the dynamic nature of the game, it may unfold differently for other players.

Before going down paths related to Monarchism or other paths, it is highly recommended you complete the Four-year plan branch, which when done you stop the looming peasants strike by completing focus "Agrarian reform," which removes Looming Peasants National Spirit.

Monarchism in Poland

The monarch tree is probably the best tree for Poland when in opposition or neutrality toward both Russia and Germany, due to all 5 sub tree's giving Poland extra land and/or cores. While the other trees are functional, they mostly serve to let the Poles either becoming a puppet to ally fascist Germany, or allying the soviets, in which case is hard to hold by Operation Barbarossa. It should also be noted that the monarchism paths also completely gets rid of both the right and left opposition, something in which the other trees need to deal with immediately, and therefore doing their industrial focuses later. The other option is the civil war, which while isn't bad, is not recommended, as there really is no benefit to doing it. Thus, for games in which the objective is either a decent single player campaign, or a non historical multiplayer in which Poland is not allowed to join the Germans or Soviets, Monarchism is most likely the best option.

It should be noted that while turning historical AI off has a chance to lock you out of some focus trees due to the Baltics becoming a puppet of the soviets, historical AI on is likely to doom you even more as the soviets will not have an otherwise somewhat likely revolution and will demand land or justify on you relatively soon.

There are 5 subpaths in the monarch tree. If one looks at the focus trees of Poland, it seems there are only 4, but the 5th is secret and will be exposed when the monarch is selected.

To start the Monarchist campaign, first go down the first 2 focuses of the monarch tree. When you complete the 5th of November Act, every 35 days an event appears in which you can either crown a king or pass to the next option. The events will show the rulers in the order of (Commonwealth, Hasburg, Poland - Romania, Cossack King, Commonwealth, Hasburg, Poland - Romania, Cossack King, Romanov, Commonwealth, Hasburg, etc...). You want to do this first because it takes some time to get some kings, and it removes the political power penalty, allowing you to select partial mobilization as soon as possible.

After doing the 5th of November Act, while waiting for your desired ruler start doing the industrial part of your focus tree. Make sure to do Agrarian Reform relatively quickly (otherwise the peasants will revolt), although there is no need to rush it as you have 2 or 3 focuses of room. Good options are the early extra research slot, 2 extra civilian factories, and -15% consumer goods. It should be noted that some focuses are 35 days while others are 70. Once you proceed down the railroads and agrarian reform, doing Investing in Eastern Poland is recommended as it gives and extra 3 civs and 1 mil.

After finishing 5-6 industrial focuses, you should choose to rush down your political path that you selected, as most require annexing land from countries which both Germany and the Soviets will be annexing in 1938 and 1939.

For the Commonwealth, Hasburg, or Romanian monarch paths, it is relatively simple. Rush down the focus that allows you to start making the monarch decisions in the country you want. I suggest saving political power 1 or 2 focuses before that focus, as you will need around 350 political power in total in making the decisions without spending any of your industrial power. Try to limit yourself to using the 50 political power decision for the first few, and then when the 25 command power and 25 political power decision becomes available use that in conjunction with the 50 political power. If it seems Germany or the Soviets may be annexing it earlier than expected, you can use the other decisions to quicken up the pace. If you get the politcal power needed and do the focus, the AI sometimes tries to counter this by using decisions that allow them to decrease monarch support thus canceling your focus. It can then be recommended to do monarchy support while doing your focus, even if it is somewhat wasted. Annex them as quick as possible.

For the Cossack or Romanov paths, just rush down the focus that allows you to annex land. I believe improving relations does help the country saying yes to your demands, so do that when you start the focus to demand something.

After you have gathered all the annexations possible, there are several options for Poland to do. At this point, all will be dependent on the state of the game. However, I believe there are 4 good options, and the order is best determined by a players playstyle. If you are not ready for war it is usually beneficial to give up Danzig, although I would work with the Soviets diplomatically in the event that comes afterward, due to fascist support ruining stability. If you really want, you can give up the East to the Soviets, although you will run out of space to build factories really fast after that.

1: If you still have political focuses in your tree that you can do, those are generally good if they provide benefits you need at the moment. You can attack countries if you like, but make sure not to do it while a greater power is about to declare war on you.

2: The industrial tree is crucial to making Poland more than just a stepping stone. If one really focuses on the industrial tree while annexing land, a player can have more industrial power than France.

3: The plan west and plan east focuses after preparing for the next war. This gives you access to forts, some quality troops (not really worth 70 days so should not take priority), it allows you to sabotage all industry, which is good if you are allied to the allies as it dampens Germany's military potential, and finally it allows local western plans and eastern plans. These give you access to 50 pp decisions that give a boost to defense and a small boost to attack and breakthrough within a state.

4: The Between the Seas Concept is probably the most fun of the bunch, allowing you to invite Romania, Hungary, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Denmark, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, the Baltics, and either Greece or Turkey. You can invite Italy if you are fascist, even if they have joined Germany by this point. Improving relations definitely helps them join, so do that as much as possible to almost guarantee them joining. It can be also noted that you can sometimes invite other AI countries depending on the state of the world. I have gotten Monarchist UK, China, mid civil war USSR, Spain and Bulgaria in my faction before. You need a good amount of Factories and 700k men to start doing this.

A few notes on each path:

Poland-Romania: Probably the easiest path to "win", as you can give Germany Danzig and use a large frontline and a good industrial base to focus on Russia, then turn back on Germany,

The Greater Commonwealth: If you want to do the focus at the bottom of your tree, you will need half of the Ussr and East Prussia, thus it is much of the gameplay from above, but instead of the Romanians at the start you will only have Lithuania and maybe Latvia. It can be recommended that you wait for the Baltics to do the industrial focuses as much as possible, as you can annex a sizeable industry.

The Hasburg: A slightly harder campaign but probably more useful against a player Germany that wants to kill Poland as fast as possible, since the Hapsburg revolves around fighting Germany first, not Russia. Russia is of course harder after 1941, but before 1940 Germany is a much harder person to beat compared to the other 2 campaigns. If Germany pushes you past Krakow, you can do desperate defense much earlier than usual since a lot of your victory points are in Czechia and Krakow. If you let them push more, you can do Prepare for the Inevitable and many other focuses below it without actually capitulating once, gaining 20% core defense and attack, as well as numerous other benefits.

The Cossack King: You can actually do 1 or 2 industrial focuses at the start here, as by the time you get Pavel, world tension will probably be above 0%, and you can be on war economy early game. You are going to probably not want to make yourself a puppet, so the territorial benefits of this route is Slovakia and Lithuania, both of which are not guaranteed nor cores, although if you do garrison the Lithuanians you get cores on them in1941 - 1942 due to the restore the commonwealth focus. Ignore the assert Western Campaigns, as Germany will always be more ready for war than you, and they will justify on you eventually. Instead, rush down the Alliance tree preferably as fast as possible, as if you can finish both the Yugoslavian focus and the Greek/turkey focus, you can invite Italy to the faction before they go to war. This seems really good, but your alliance will be declared on by both Germany and Russia, and Italy will probably declare war on the allies. Thus, winning the war quite literally against the entire world is difficult, so this is probably the hardest campaign. However, it is fun and challenging, and can be good for a multiplayer coop with a Poland and an Italy.

The Romanov: The secret path of coring Russia is also fun, although is not so much challenging. Again, it is similar to gameplay as the first 2, as you fight Russia before it industrializes (and probably is in a civil war). Also, if the Soviets have no troops on your border because they are fighting in Siberia, be careful not to capitulate them before you do claim Russia, as it will cancel the focus and lock you out of getting cores. However, if you are in for a challenge, you can get Wojtek the Bear as your leader under the following conditions:

1: Fighting against Italy and has divisions in Italy.

2: You have Anastasia (fake) as your ruler.

3: An ally or you controls Persia.

4: After all of these conditions are met, you can then only take Moscow.

This is difficult because it requires you to just be taking Moscow while you have divisions against Italy, thus fighting both the Axis and Comnitern and winning by a decent amount.

Others

Finally a few notes on Poland itself:

Poland's biggest problem beside it being between Russia and Germany is resources. When at war with Germany, Poland will be starved of almost all resources. It can actually be very useful not to upgrade your equipment, as doing so leads to more steel being used up. Even doing this, when fighting Germany, it is not useful to build more than 30 or 40 military factories as building more will lead to equipment that you have no resources to produce.

You can ally Germany if they go monarchist. You are actually more useful to Germany than Italy, so making the November Alliance is mutually beneficial to both of you, as Poland can invite many other countries.

Use anti-air. The allies will be of no use to you, at least in the early war, so you cannot expect to win the air war easily.

Once you are almost capitulated, you can finally do Prepare for the Inevitable. This focus tree will give you many bonuses and some factories to keep you occupied while capitulated, and you will eventually be able to form a very sizable revolt late game.

30 Minutes of Hel; 1939

Ironically, this almost certainly necessitates abandoning the original Hel fortified area (Which would be at the very thin line of land off the top of Gdynia) and concentrating all units in three tiles from Warsaw to Lódź. Although a theoretically better position would be to somehow occupy the 5 tiles of Katowice to Tarnów through Kraków and maintain control of the steel produced in those states, it would require perfect conditions to hold in comparison, stretching what forces Poland has in the 1939 start to their limit, and the loss of any victory point in those tiles would be an instant capitulation.

All units should become infantry units, as they are the most prolific and low maintenance units in relation to their use and to concentrate and simplify equipment production.

Construction should focus on constructing forts in the tile of Lodz and Warsaw; these tiles would be the constant target of unceasing attack by the overwhelming army of the Reich. Without fortifications for the not fully equipped divisions Poland has to bring their foe to a more level playing field, the infantry divisions would lose organization and break too quickly and be too slow to cycle back into the tile after retreating from the damage of constant battle against artillery and more crucially enemy air on Close Air Support missions.

In all, it would likely be a desperate struggle for two or even three years between the dregs of factories left to work and constant awareness to cycle units back into tiles, constantly under attack, as Poland somehow equips and even increases its army size to hold.

However, it may still not be lost. Should Poland survive long enough to construct at least level 7 forts, the German offence should peter off. During this time, the casualties sustained by Germany would likely be quite far from the 1.8 million required by the achievement, but now with a solid defense, the breathing room gives Poland the space to prepare to strike back. And even if Germany does not go after the Soviet Union (with historical focuses) due to the survival of Poland, who is to say that the Soviet Union will not go after it, or one of it's other Axis members?

This presents the opportunity to strike, and by now Poland should have an experienced army. Artillery is crucial, since Poland would find it difficult to field armored or air units. When the enemy lines are thin and Poland is prepared, encircling as many units as possible and then digging in at a new front line after re-occupying more of the country should result in the requisite casualties.

Some tricks may be employed to make it easier. One trick is that the player can queue all units they can when they start the game to "store" manpower when the invasion begins. This stored manpower is saved even as Germany takes control of Polish states, which would ordinarily reduce manpower. This stored manpower may then be released when Poland only has it's 3 tiles remaining by un-queuing those in-training divisions; one may imagine that it had drawn all its eligible men into training centres and thus being able to call upon them compared to them being lost in occupied states.

With DLC, spy operations, cypher-cracking and the Polish Focus tree can make it easier to make a more powerful offense.

Achievements

30 Minutes of Hel

As Poland in the 1939 “Blitzkrieg” scenario start, inflict over 1,800,000 casualties to Germany to beat the 2018 PDXCON HOI4 challenge. Extra bragging rights if you do it in 30 minutes or less!

Bearer of Artillery

Gain Wojtek as commander.

Poland Can Into Space

Finish all Rocket Technologies as Poland.

Crusader Kings III

As Poland, crown a King (or Queen) and capture Jerusalem.

Habsburgs. Habsburgs everywhere

As Poland, install a Habsburg monarch and be in a faction with another Habsburg monarch.

No more Partitions

As Poland, be independent and ensure that both Germany and the USSR are either in your faction or don’t exist.

Poland Peasant Revolution

As Poland, have the Peasant’s Strike overthrow the government.

Countries

Europe

Albania Austria Belgium Bulgaria Czechoslovakia Denmark Estonia Finland France Free France Vichy France German Reich Kingdom of Greece Kingdom of Hungary Ireland Italy Latvia Lithuania Luxembourg Netherlands Norway Poland Portugal Nationalist Spain Republican Spain Romania Slovakia Soviet Union Sweden Switzerland Turkey Republic of Ukraine United Kingdom Yugoslavia

North America

Dominion of Canada Costa Rica Cuba Dominican Republic El Salvador Guatemala Haiti Honduras Mexico Nicaragua Panama United States

South America

Argentina Bolivia Brazil Chile Colombia Ecuador Paraguay Peru Uruguay Venezuela

Asia	Afghanistan Bhutan British Malaya British Raj China Communist China Dutch East Indies Guangxi Clique Iran Iraq Japan Manchukuo Mengkukuo Mongolia Nepal Oman Philippines Saudi Arabia Shanxi Siam Sinkiang Tannu Tuva Tibet Xibei San Ma Yemen Yunnan

Africa

Angola Sultanate of Aussa Botswana Kingdom of Egypt Ethiopia Liberia South Africa

Oceania

Australia Melanesian Federation New Zealand Tahiti